Smithtown Sports Notebook: Feb. 14-20

Girls basketball: Shevlin leads East to playoff win

Smithtown East’s Nicole Shevlin picked a good time to have the best game of her life.

Shevlin scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead East to a 67-56 victory over No. 16 Central Islip in Saturday’s Class AA outbracket game at Central Islip High School. East, the No. 17 seed, advanced to face No. 1 seed Northport Monday night at 6 p.m. at Northport High School.

East (10-9) fell behind early and trailed by as many as 18 points, and was down 37-24 at the half before dominating the second half. East cut the gap to two points entering the fourth quarter and then slammed the door with 26 points in the final stanza. Shannon O’Connor scored 18 points, Rebecca Teeple had 10 and Marissa Grennan added seven.

East completed its regular season with a win at Centereach Tuesday, 38-34. O’Connor drained three three-pointers and finished with 14 points. Teeple and Fran Busa each had seven points and Shevlin added six. East finished fourth in League III at 8-6.

Boys basketball: East bounced in playoff opener

Smithtown East’s boys basketball team reached the playoffs but was unable to make it past its outbracket game Friday night, losing a heartbreaker in overtime at home to Eastport-South Manor, 43-39.

East, ranked 16^th in the Class AA bracket, overcame a nine-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to force overtime in what was a defensive battle from the start. No. 17 Eastport-South Manor managed just two points in the opening quarter but came back to take a four-point halftime lead. ESM outscored the Bulls 12-8 in overtime and advanced to meet No. 1 seed Half Hollow Hills West.

Three East players finished in double figures, led by Jon Feiler with 14 points. Mike Modugno scored 11 points and Dan Thixton added 10. Mike Napolitano chipped in with four points.

East finished its regular season on Tuesday, beating Centereach on the road, 59-49. Feiler led the Bulls with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Modugno added 12 points and Dan Walsh scored six. East finished in third place in League III with an 8-6 record, and finished the season with an overall record of 9-10.

Wrestling: Nappi fourth, Bair sixth at county tournament

The Smithtown wrestling teams placed two wrestlers in the top six at the Suffolk County Division I championships, which concluded Monday at Stony Brook University.

West’s Joe Nappi was the top place winner, finishing fourth at 160 pounds. Nappi advanced to the consolation finals, where he lost an 8-3 decision to third-place finisher Rich Lugo of Deer Park.

East’s Steven Bair finished sixth at 103 pounds. Bair advanced to the fifth/sixth consolation match, where he was pinned in 2:16 by Matt Bradice of William Floyd. West finished with 18 points in team scoring while East finished with 15. Longwood won the county team championship with 191 points.

West basketball teams finish seasons

The West boys basketball team wrapped up the season Tuesday at home with a 69-36 loss to first-place Copiague.

Copiague, which finished 13-1 in League III and earned the eighth seed in the Class AA playoffs, scored 32 points in the first quarter and led 42-10 at the half. Ryan Hickey led West with nine points and Kevin Luftig added eight. West finished the season 3-11 in league play.

West girls basketball finished the League III season Tuesday with a 62-51 loss at Copiague. Nicole South led West with 17 points and Melissa Meyers added 11 points. West finished 2-12 in league play.